Method and apparatus for displaying data element axes

ABSTRACT

An aspect of the invention hereby presented provides a means to display a first set of, for instance, documents in conjunction with a second set of documents when the second set of documents would not necessarily fit in the query used to select the documents of the first set of documents and/or would not necessarily fit the collation of the first set of documents. The second set of documents so located in relationship with the first set of documents having a beneficial effect for the understanding of the first set of documents. A system and a GUI thereof is also hereby presented.

CROSS-REFERENCES

The present application is a nonprovisional of, and claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to, U.S. provisional patent application No.61/658,171, filed Jun. 11, 2012, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FORDISPLAYING DATA ELEMENT AXES, which is incorporated herein by referencein its entireties. Any publication of and any patent issuing from theforegoing U.S. patent application is hereby incorporated herein byreference. Furthermore, the disclosure of the priority provisionalapplication is contained in the Appendix hereto, which is incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The subject invention relates generally to computer systems adapted tomanage data elements on axes thereof. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to data elements organization into multiple sets forthe purpose of visualization against a unique collation criterion.

2. Background of the Invention

In content management systems (CMS) using an axis-based graphical userinterface (ABGUI), an axis is used to display a portion of the computerfiles, or data elements represented as documents, contained in thesystem's database. The axis of documents locates documents thereon in acomprehensive and ordered fashion so that a viewer can infer meaningfrom the location of each document as opposed to a display wheredocuments are arbitrarily disposed like the well-known personal computerdesktop where documents are located in a more or less ordered fashion.

The documents, each of which is assigned by default or by the user aplurality of attributes based on its form and content, are thusorganized into a meaningful layout, for instance an axis, according to aspecified filtering criterion using document attributes (e.g. keyword,subject, document type, user, etc.) and to a collation function (e.g.chronological order, alphabetical order, statistical order, etc.).

For example, a user may build a query to retrieve all documentscorresponding to a specified filtering criterion, e.g. “patent issued in2012”, and to visualize them on an axis, collated on the basis of theirissue dates, in chronological order. Further to this query, alldocuments containing the attribute “patents” for the year 2012 wouldthus appear on an axis along a time-line, forming a first set ofdocuments. This is simple and intuitive and axes can generally becreated, modified or deleted at will simply by building differentqueries.

For various reasons however, it is often desirable for users to viewmore than one set of documents at once on the same axis. For instance,in order to efficiently assess progress in a client's file, the user maywish to view all his or her patent prosecution documents inchronological order, and further bundle together all documents containedwithin this set that specifically pertain to Official Letter X. And soon with additional levels of grouping within sets.

But organizing and viewing documents as a collection of sets along aunique axis can be problematic if the documents contained thereon arestored in the database under a different date than the one at which theuser wants the secondary set of documents to appear on the axis. Forinstance, the documents linked to Official Letter X (Officecommunication, cited art, etc.) may have been created long before ormuch later than the communication date of Official Letter X. They wouldnormally appear at their respective date of creation along the axis. Asa matter of fact, Official Letter X itself, having a communication dateof January 1^(st), may have been received and docketed into the databaseat a later date, for example January 15. It may nonetheless be moreuseful to the user to if placed at the January 1^(st) position on theaxis. Grouping together all the documents according to theirrelationship with Official Letter X at the communication date ofOfficial Letter X would therefore require re-locating them at a positionthat does not correspond to their attributes as entered in the system.

Furthermore, documents related to the secondary set, in this caseOfficial Letter X, may include documents that are not on the first axis.This could be the case for patent art that is only cited in relation toOfficial Letter X but does not have the attribute “patents issued in2012” and therefore is not represented on that axis. This in turn poseschallenges at the database level in retrieving and organizing documentsthat may be referenced according to different referencing modes, namelyreferenced by a parent document, referencing a document or neitherreferencing nor referenced by another document, i.e. standalonedocuments.

In this particular example, arranging documents into multiple sets alongthe same axis would imply that prosecution documents are organizedchronologically except for documents related to Official Letter X,which, regardless of their respective issue date, would be placed on theaxis at the January 1^(st) location. Patent art documents are going tobe located on an axis to which they do not inherently belong and at alocation different than their respective issue date. Finally, the orderin which documents in the secondary set are organized may be differentfrom the chronological order governing the axis. The user may, forexample, wish to collate documents associate with Official Letter X byalphabetical order or by file type. For all these reasons, it cantherefore be difficult and counterintuitive to represent multiple setsof documents graphically on a unique axis.

Organizing multiple sets of documents on a unique axis can also posecertain difficulties related to visually distinctive features (VDF's).VDF's can be ascribed to individual documents or sets thereof in theform of colors, shapes, shading, direction, etc., in order to visuallysignal their particularity vis-à-vis other documents. The conditions forassigning VDF's can therefore vary based on a given document's belongingto one set or another and on the hierarchy of sets queried.

It is nonetheless often desirable to organize documents in such a way.Indeed, grouping certain documents by user name, project, client, orkeyword, etc. independently of the documents' dates and the attributegoverning the axis can more readily help a user achieve certain goalssuch as assessing progress, estimating workload, etc.

There is therefore a need in the art of axis-based content managementsystems for a method and system of ordering and displaying on a uniqueaxis multiple sets of documents governed by distinct collation criteria,treating the collation criteria of each set as autonomous from thatgoverning the axis while visually maintaining the hierarchy between thedifferent sets of documents on the axis. There is also a need in the artfor computer-readable instructions that sort through documents containedin a database and referenced therein according to different default anduser-specified attributes in relation to other documents. There is alsoa need in the art for assigning VDF's to documents and sets of documentsin a manner coherent with the document's position within a given set.

Other deficiencies will become apparent to one skilled in the art towhich the invention pertains in view of the following summary anddetailed description with its appended figures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one aspect of the present invention to alleviate one or more ofthe shortcomings of background art by addressing one or more of theexisting needs in the art.

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

An aspect of the invention, in accordance with at least one embodiment,provides a means to display a first set of, for instance, documents inconjunction with a second set of documents when the second set ofdocuments would not necessarily fit in the query used to select thedocuments of the first set of documents and/or would not necessarily fitthe collation of the first set of documents. The second set of documentsso located in relationship with the first set of documents having abeneficial effect for the understanding of the first set of documents.

An object of the invention, in accordance with at least one embodiment,is generally described as a method used to represent multiple sets ofcomputer files, or documents, on the same axis of documents in anaxes-based graphical user interface. The method allows, in accordancewith at least one embodiment, a user, group of users, or a system, togroup documents side by side into a set independently of the originallocation of each document included in the set, to position the varioussets at a desired location on an axis which is also independent of theoriginal location of each document, and to organize the documents ineach set according to an order, or collation, independent from theordering or collation of the axis on which the document sets appear.

The axis of documents generally refers to, but is not limited to, inaccordance with at least one embodiment, a comprehensive graphicallayout of documents that is substantially rectilinear and provides aviewer an indication of continuity between the documents disposedthereon. The documents are selected to be disposed on the axis on thebasis of one or more attributes, and are ordered on a scale thereonaccording to a collation function. In addition, the axis of documentscan be defined by a single axis, a double axis of documents, or moreadjacent axes of documents.

The subject application, in accordance with at least one embodiment, isadapted to use a computer system to execute a method with a graphicaluser interface adapted to manage the juxtaposition of multiple sets ofdocuments on an axis of documents in a manner such that documentsoriginating from various locations, on and off the axis of documents, aswell as documents sets generated using different collation criteria, canbe integrated into the same axis at a designated position within thefirst axis' collation.

One aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, an object-oriented computing system. The computing systemcomprises a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and aninterface. The memory stores a data file structure which includes theidentification of a document object and an axis object accommodating aplurality of documents thereon in a software program, one or moreproperties and a set of methods associated with the document object andthe axis object, and instructions for adding the document object to theaxis object individually or as part of a set at a location which may beuser-specified and independent of the document's or document set'sproperties. The interface being adapted to display one or more axes ofdocuments each containing multiple sets thereof, each of which may beorganized according to distinct collation criteria and independentlyfrom the collation criterion used for the axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, an apparatus comprising a computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions, such as a software program adapted to carry outthe embodiments. The instructions that, when executed provide aprocessor-based system the steps to add a set of documents to an axis ofdocuments and add another or more set of documents to be disposed alongthe axis at a location departing from the initial location and orderingof each of the documents within or without the first set.

In another aspect of our work, a graphical user interface is provided.The graphical user interface displays, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, an axis in accordance with the implementation of a methodthat manages documents on the axis when the documents are added to theaxis so as to form multiple sets thereof, each of which being positionedon the axis independently of the initial location of the individualdocuments contained therein in relation to the first set, and beingorganized according to distinct collation criteria independently fromthe collation used for the axis.

One aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method for assembling documents exclusively comprisedwithin a first set or axis into secondary sets to be disposed on thesame axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method for generating secondary sets of documents fromdocuments originating from within or without the first set or axis to bedisposed on the same axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a function for positioning secondary sets of documents on anaxis independently of their original location within the first set, at alocation designated based on a criterion that may be intrinsic to thedocument, such as an attribute, or extrinsic to it, such as a specificlocation on the display area or a relative position on the axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a function for collating the documents within each secondaryset independently from the collation of the first axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a means to form a linear axis scale using collation units ofequal size.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a means to form a non-linear axis scale using collationunits of unequal size.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method of generating multiple sets of documents to bedisposed on more than one axis, allowing document sets to either beexclusively disposed on one axis or to be disposed over more than oneaxis in an order and structure specified in a query.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method for applying visually distinctive features todocuments within or outside document sets on an axis.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method to locate on an axis presenting a collationfunction, documents that present the attribute used to select documentsto be represented on the axis but do not present an attributecorresponding to the collation criterion.

One other aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having storedthereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of a computer system, cause the computer system to performoperations for displaying an array of computer-readable files on adisplay, the operations comprising: defining a first set ofcomputer-readable files on a basis of a first filtering criterion;defining a first collation function for ordering the first set ofcomputer-readable files; defining a second set of computer-readablefiles on a basis of a second filtering criterion; defining a positionfor locating the second set of computer-readable files in conjunctionwith the first ordered set of computer-readable files; and displaying acombination of the first and second sets of computer-readable files inan array of computer-readable files, the first set of computer-readablefiles being ordered on a basis of the first collation function, whereinthe second set of computer-readable files is displayed on a basis of thedefined position.

An aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a computerized system configured to read computer-executableinstructions adapted to enable a program enabling an interface adaptedto order and display computer-readable files, the computerized systemcomprising a processing unit configured to process the computerexecutable instructions; and a display configured to display theinterface; the program, when executed, being operative to define a firstset of computer-readable files on a basis of a first filteringcriterion; define a first collation function for ordering the first setof computer-readable files; define a second set of computer-readablefiles on a basis of a second filtering criterion; define a position forlocating the second set of computer-readable files in conjunction withthe first ordered set of computer-readable files; and display acombination of the first and second sets of computer-readable files inan array of computer-readable files, the first set of computer-readablefiles being ordered on a basis of the first collation function, whereinthe second set of computer-readable files is displayed on a basis of thedefined position.

Another aspect of our work provides, in accordance with at least oneembodiment, a method of combining a plurality of sets of documents on adisplay is hereby presented, the method comprising providing a firstplurality of documents on a basis of a first filtering criterion,providing a second plurality of documents on a basis of a secondfiltering criterion, displaying and ordering the first plurality ofdocuments in accordance with an order defined at least in part on abasis of a first collation function, displaying the second plurality ofdocuments in operative combination with the first plurality ofdocuments, the second plurality of documents being disposed among thefirst plurality of documents as a group of documents at a location alongthe order of the first plurality of documents to include in the firstplurality of document documents that do not reflect one of the firstfiltering criterion and the first collation function.

These and other advantages and features of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following description and the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an alternate exemplary network;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary computer system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary software system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an axis with a linear collationscale and an axis with a non-linear collation scale.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an axis linked to data elementscontained in a database in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of various modes of referencingdocuments

FIG. 8; is a schematic illustration of an axis layout of documentscontaining a plurality of attributes and referencing modes;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of a database and axis containing twosecondary sets of documents.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of the generation of a secondary setof documents from a first axis of documents.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of an alternate embodiment of asecondary set of documents on an axis.

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of the various levels of grouping ofdocuments into sets.

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of various embodiments ofgraphically displaying secondary sets of documents on an axis.

FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of a plurality of secondary setspositioned within an axis.

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of visually distinctive featuresapplied to documents and sets thereof on an axis.

FIG. 16 is a schematic illustration of alternate embodiments of visuallydistinctive features applied to documents and sets thereof on an axis.

FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of a group of axes containingmultiple sets of documents.

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of an alternate embodiment of agroup of axes containing multiple sets of documents.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart describing the method for generating sets ofdocuments and positioning them on a unique axis.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart describing the method for including or notincluding events in a secondary set of documents and graphicallydisplaying the same; and

FIG. 21 is a flow chart describing the method for integrating secondarydocument sets to an axis when said document set is exogenous to thequery.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

Our work is now described with reference to the figures. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe present invention by way of embodiment(s). It may be evident,however, that the present invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devicesare shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing thepresent invention.

The features provided in this specification mainly, but might notexclusively, relate to principles of computer software andmachine-readable code/instructions adapted to instruct a computer, manycomputers or other machines adapted to use the instructions to providematerial effects on a display, or other means enabling human-computerinteractions to manage documents, menus, user-selectable elements andother computer files. These code/instructions are preferably stored on amachine-readable medium to be read and acted upon to with a computer ora machine having the appropriate code/instructions reading capability.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network 10 in which a system and amethod, consistent with the present invention, may be implemented. Thenetwork 10 may include multiple client devices 12 connected to multipleservers 14, 16, 18 via a network 20. The network 20 may include a localarea network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a phone network, such asthe Public Switched Phone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet,Wi-Fi, WiMAX or a combination of networks. Two client devices 12 andthree servers 14, 16, 18 have been illustrated as connected to network20 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or less client devicesand servers 14, 16, 18. Also, in some instances, a client 12 device mayperform the functions of a server 14, 16, 18 and a server 14, 16, 18 mayperform the functions of a client 12 device.

The client devices 12 may include devices, such as mainframes,minicomputers, personal computers, laptops, personal digital assistants,phones, or the like, capable of connecting to the network 20. The clientdevices 12 may transmit data over the network 20 or receive data fromthe network 20 via a wired, wireless, or optical connection.

The servers 14, 16, 18 may include one or more types of computer system,such as a mainframe, minicomputer, or personal computer, capable ofconnecting to the network 20 to enable servers 14, 16, 18 to communicatewith the client devices 12. In alternative implementations, the servers14, 16, 18 may include mechanisms for directly connecting to one or moreclient devices 12. The servers 14, 16, 18 may transmit data over thenetwork 20 or receive data from the network 20 via a wired, wireless, oroptical connection.

In an implementation consistent with the present inventionillustratively embodied herein, the server 14 may include a searchengine 22 usable by the client devices 12. The servers 14, 16, 18 maystore documents 200, such as web pages, accessible by the client devices12.

With reference to FIG. 2, a network 20 includes the content cloud 30, acontent database 32, content devices 34-38, and other devices 40-48. Thenetwork mediator 28 enables network devices 32-48 to communicate witheach other without pre-configuring each device. The content cloud 30represent a content source such as the Internet, where content exists atvarious locations across the globe that could be reached through a wiredconnection and/or with a wireless connection. The content includesmultimedia content such as audio and video. The mediator 28 allows thecontent cloud to provide content to devices 34-48. The content database32 is a storage device that maintains content. The content database 32may be a stand-alone device on an external communication network. Themediator 28 communicates with the content database 32 to access andretrieve content. The content devices 34-48 include intelligent devices,such as, for example, personal computers, laptops, cell phones andpersonal digital assistants. The content devices 34-48 are capable orstoring content data. The devices 34-48 are intelligent devices thatreceive content from other content devices 30-48. However, the devices30-48 can also operate as servers to distribute content to other clientdevices.

The following discussion provides a brief, general description of anexemplary computer apparatus in which at least some aspects of thepresent invention may be implemented. The present invention will bedescribed in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as program modules 174, being executed by a computerized device.However, the methods of the present invention may be affected by otherapparatus. Program modules may include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, applets, WEB 2.0 type of evolved networkedcentered applications, etc. that perform a task(s) or implementparticular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art willappreciate that at least some aspects of the present invention may bepracticed with other configurations, including hand-held devices,multiprocessor system, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network computers, minicomputers, set top boxes, mainframecomputers, gaming console and the like. At least some aspects of thepresent invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing deviceslinked through a communications network as exemplified in FIG. 2. In adistributed computing environment, program modules 174 may be located inlocal and/or remote memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 3, an exemplary apparatus 100 for implementing atleast some aspects of the present invention includes a general-purposecomputing device in the form of a computer 120 or in the form of acomputerized portable apparatus. The computer 120 may include aprocessing unit 121, a system memory 122, and a system bus 123 thatcouples various system components, including the system memory 122, tothe processing unit 121. The system bus 123 may be any of several typesof bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. The system memory may include read only memory (ROM) 124and/or random access memory (RAM) 125. A basic input/output system 126(BIOS), containing basic routines that help to transfer data betweenelements within the computer 120, such as during start-up, may be storedin ROM 124. The computer 120 may also include a hard disk drive 127 forreading from and writing to a hard disk, (not shown), a magnetic diskdrive 128 for reading from or writing to a (e.g., removable) magneticdisk 129, and an optical disk drive 130 for reading from or writing to aremovable (magneto) optical disk 131 such as a compact disk or other(magneto) optical media. The hard disk drive 127, magnetic disk drive128, and (magneto) optical disk drive 130 may be coupled with the systembus 123 by a hard disk drive interface 132, a magnetic disk driveinterface 133, and a (magneto) optical drive interface 134,respectively. The drives and their associated storage media providenon-volatile (or persistent) storage of machine readable instructions,data structures, program modules 174 and other data for the computer120. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a harddisk, a removable magnetic disk 129 and a removable optical disk 131,these skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of storagemedia, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read onlymemories (ROM), remote cloud storage and the like, may be used insteadof, or in addition to, the storage devices introduced above.

A number of program modules 174 may be stored on the hard disk 127,magnetic disk 129, (magneto) optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, suchas an operating system 135 (for example, Windows® NT® 4.0, sold byMicrosoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), one or more applicationprograms 136, other program modules 137 (such as “Alice”, which is aresearch system developed by the User Interface Group at Carnegie MellonUniversity available at www.Alice.org, OpenGL from Silicon Graphics Inc.of Mountain View Calif., or Direct 3D from Microsoft Corp. of BellevueWash.), and/or program data 138 for example.

A user may enter commands and data into the computer 120 through inputdevices, such as a keyboard 140, a camera 141 and pointing device 142for example. Other input devices (not shown) such as a microphone,joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, a touch sensitive screen,accelerometers adapted to sense movements of the user or movements of adevice, or the like may also be included. These and other input devicesare often connected to the processing unit 121 through a serial portinterface 146 coupled to the system bus. However, input devices may beconnected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port,blue tooth connection or a universal serial bus (USB). For example,since the bandwidth of the camera 141 may be too great for the serialport, the video camera 141 may be coupled with the system bus 123 via avideo capture card (not shown). The video monitor 147 or other type ofdisplay device may also be connected to the system bus 123 via aninterface, such as a video adapter 148 for example. The video adapter148 may include a graphics accelerator. One or more speaker 162 may beconnected to the system bus 123 via a sound card 161 (e.g., a wave tablesynthesizer such as product number AWE64 Gold Card from Creative® Labsof Milpitas, Calif.). In addition to the monitor 147 and speaker(s) 162,the computer 120 may include other peripheral output devices (notshown), such as a printer, a hi-definition television and a scanner forexample. As an alternative or an addition to the video monitor 147, astereo video output device, such as a head mounted display or LCDshutter glasses for example, could be used.

The computer 120 may operate in a networked environment which defineslogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 149. The remote computer 149 may be another computer, a server,a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, andmay include many or all of the elements described above relative to thecomputer 120. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 3 include a localarea network (LAN) 151 and a wide area network (WAN) 152, an intranetand the Internet.

When used in a LAN, the computer 120 may be connected to the LAN 151through a network interface adapter (or “NIC”) 153. When used in a WAN,such as the Internet, the computer 120 may include a modem 154 or othermeans for establishing communications over the wide area network 152(e.g. Wi-Fi, WinMax). The modem 154, which may be internal or external,may be connected to the system bus 123 via the serial port interface 146or another type of port interface. In a networked environment, at leastsome of the program modules depicted relative to the computer 120 may bestored in the remote memory storage device. The network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

The exemplary network and the exemplary computer system described aboveare adapted to carry on the following embodiments:

A system 170 is depicted in FIG. 4 which may represent thefunctionalities described in the instant application when run on anapparatus 100, for instance a computer 120, such as has been previouslydescribed. The software system 170 illustratively consists of acollection of at least six modules 174 that together carry out themethod required for the functionalities to be visible on a graphicaluser interface and usable by the user. A computing module 178 provides ameans to circulate data between users, the other modules 174 and theapparatus 100. The computing module 178 is adapted to convert queries210 which may be system-based, or user-based, into graphical renderingin accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention. Theother modules 174 are configured to send to and receive data from thecomputing module and to individually or collectively interact with othermodules 174.

A data elements management module 182 may be used in conjunction withother modules to manage data elements such as documents 200 contained ina database 32 in response to a query 210. The data elements managementmodule 182 may sort through documents 200 stored in the database 32 andconnected to each other via a variety of referencing modes, may apply afilter as specified in a query 210 and may subsequently direct thefiltered documents 200 to other modules. One such module may be an axisordering module 186 which may distribute documents 200 filtered by thedata elements management module 182 onto an axis 300 according to acollation function that may be user-specified and analyzed by thecomputing module 178.

An axis 300 can be embodied as being a substantially rectilinear displayarrangement of documents 200 from which a viewer can infer an order,sequence and/or relationships between documents 200. An axis 300distribution of documents is adapted to accommodate a single type ofdocuments 200 or, if desired, more than one type of documents 200,computer files, multimedia contents and/or user-selectable menuelements. Using an axis 300 of documents helps to meaningfully andintuitively display a group of documents 200. Other functionalitiesrelated to axes 300 shall be described in greater detail below.

The axis ordering module 186 may manage the ordering of single documents200 and/or several documents 200 assembled into document sets 220 ontoone or more axes 300. In addition of managing the collation of documents200 onto an axis 300, the axis ordering module 186 may also manage theorder of the documents 200 contained within document sets 220. Thepositioning module 190 manages the positioning of document sets 220within axes 300 based on interactions with other modules 174 processingthe various elements contained in a query 210. The positioning module190 is adapted to and may interpret data contained in document sets 220generated by the data elements management module 182 in relationship tothe query 210 to identify a location for a given document set 220 withinthe collation of an axis 300. Likewise, a visually distinctive features230 management module 194 is adapted to interpret data contained indocuments 200 or document sets 220 generated by the data elementsmanagement module 182 in relationship to the query 210 to selectivelyapply one or more visually distinctive features 230 to single documents200 or document sets 220. Finally, a display management module 198 may,inter alia, manage elements related to the user interface 250, possiblyinteracting with a graphics card and a monitor 147.

An interface program providing an interface 250 for managing documents200 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is installed on amachine e.g. a computer system 120. The interface 250 can be programmedusing various programming languages e.g. C++, Java or other suitableprogramming languages. Programming of these languages is well known inthe art and is adapted to be readable to provide executable instructionsto a hardware system and will not be further described therein. Theinterface 250 might run through the operating system and the hardware ofthe computer system 120 or, alternatively, through a network-basedsystem e.g. client-server, and/cloud computing system. The interface 250is adapted to manage documents 200, computer files, pictures, multimediacontent, applications (i.e. computer programs), menu elements, sets oficons and other user-selectable elements in a comprehensive fashion.

As skilled readers in the art are going to appreciate in theaforementioned text and appended figures, documents 200 are stored on amachine-readable medium and can be retrieved on demand with theinterface 250 program. Documents 200 are disposed in an axis-like layoutproviding a visually comprehensive display arrangement of the documents200. An axis 300 is adapted to accommodate a single type of documents200 or, if desired, more than one type of documents 200, and/or a mix ofdocuments 200, computer files, multimedia contents, informational icons,and/or user-selectable menu elements.

An axis 300 of documents 200 can be embodied as being a substantiallyrectilinear arrangement of documents 200 adapted to dispose eachdocument 200 on a straight or curved line. The axis can be completelystraight, slightly curved, substantially curved, circular, angled,following a particular shape or having a consistent shape over whichdocuments are disposed in a reasonably consistent fashion adapted toallow a viewer to infer a comprehensive suite of documents 200. Theexact shape of the axis 300 can vary, what matters, inter alia, is thatthe layout structure of an axis 300 provides a comprehensive sequence ofdocuments 200 from which a viewer can infer an order, sequence orrelationship thereof. The axes presented in the embodiments below areillustrated in the horizontal position while they could alternatively bedisposed vertically without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

When only a portion of the axis 300 is visible, a play of zoom, pan andmovements along the axis 300 allows a viewer to navigate on the axis 300and change the document(s) 200 that is (are) displayed. Documents 200might overlap or decrease in size to squeeze more documents 200 into thespace available on the display. Magnification of selected documents 200on an axis 300 can be made to increase the level of detail of theselected documents 200. Similarly, a small display area could displayonly one document 200 from the axis 300 while the remaining documents200 from the axis 300 would not be displayed but would nonethelessremain at their respective “virtual” position on the axis 300, ready tobe displayed upon scrolling of the axis 300. In other words, if weconsider a mobile platform like a mobile phone having a small display,the small display area might allow to efficiently display only onedocument 200 at the time. However, the displayed document being part ofan axis 300, the other documents 200 on the axis 300 remain displayableon the display in accordance with their respective position on the axis300 when the axis is scrolled/navigated/gestured.

Each axis 300 groups documents 200 in accordance with, for example, aselected tag, a category, keywords, document creator, or an attributethat is commonly shared among the documents 200 displayed on the axis300. The term “attribute” 312 will consistently be used throughout theinstant specification to lighten the reading of the text and willinclude the other commonality between documents 200 described thereinunless otherwise specified. Attributes 312 include user-specifiedattributes 312 and system-specified attributes 312. Generally, documents200 bear a plurality of attributes 312 that relate to their content andmeaning (keyword, user, category, etc.) and a plurality of attributes312 that relate to their form (file type, time of creation, number ofviews, time of last modification, etc). Form-related attributes 312 aregenerally automatically generated, but could also be user-specifiedwithout departing from the present invention. The selection of one ormore attributes 312 (using Boolean logic for instance) in a query 210determines which documents will be displayed on the axis 300. If nospecific attribute 312 is selected, then, the axis 300 displays alldocuments 200. Thus, all documents 200 on the same axis 300 are normallyassociated with the selected set or combination of attributes 312.Trivial data, like publicity or specific related information, could beadded to an axis without departing from the scope of the presentinvention as long as the outcome remains a presentation of documentsresulting from a query 210.

The attributes 312 of a document 200 can be selected to create anotheraxis 300 thereof. The attribute of a document 200 from the newly createdaxis 300 can be selected to create an additional axis 300 and so forth.This is what could be called “relational navigation” and is welldescribed in the United States patent application publication referredto at the beginning of the present patent specification. Hence, the usercan “navigate” along axes 300 in accordance with their categorization tovisualize the documents 200. Navigation tools are provided with theinterface 250 to allow navigation through various axes 300, when aplurality of axes 300 is enabled, and through the documents 200 of asingle axis 300. In the context of the present invention, a singlesequence of documents 200 forming an axis 300 along a time scale 304 isone illustrated embodiment because it is easy to sequentially navigatethroughout the documents 200 disposed along the axis 300.

An axis 300 disposes the documents 200 selected in a query 210 inaccordance with according to a specified order or collation function,(e.g. chronological order, alphabetical order, statistical order,increasing file size, etc.), or not. Indeed, an axis 300 disposingdocuments in random fashion is contemplated within the scope of thepresent disclosure. However, axes 300 disposing documents 200 accordingto a collation function are illustrated embodiments because of theusefulness and ease of use of ordering documents 200. A collationfunction would dispose each document 200 along the axis 300 according tothe value of a specified attribute 312 in relation to the collationunits 307 of the axis and, optionally, other documents 200 in thedocument set 220. Attributes 312 used to determine a collation generallytend to be form-related attributes 312, but content related attributes312 could also be used to generate a collation without departing fromthe present invention. Among collation functions, a chronologicaldistribution of documents 200 sorting documents 200 on a time scale 304is used in embodiments of our work because of its intuitiveness.

FIG. 5 illustrates an axis 300 using a chronological order as acollation function 302 for disposing documents 200 thereon. The timescale 304 is divided into a plurality of time units 308. As isillustrated in FIG. 5, the time scale 304 can either be linear ornon-linear. A linear configuration 305 displaying time units 308 of thesame graphical size, or length, on the axis 300, and a non-linearconfiguration 306 displaying time units 308 of unequal size. The linearconfiguration 305 illustrated in FIG. 5 shows time units 308 that are ofequal size regardless of the number of documents each one contains. Inlinear configurations 305, time unit 308 size is given primacy overdocuments 200 distribution and documents' 200 size, meaning that thesize of the documents 200 within a time unit 308 will appear in fullscale if there are few documents 200 in the time unit 308 and willappear in reduced scale if too many documents 200 are found therein toall be completely displayed in order for all of them to be visible inthe subject time unit. Conversely, the non-linear configuration 306might non-evenly display time units 308 because an even distribution ofdocuments 200 along the time scale 304 prevails over the linearity ofthe time scale 304. In other words, document 200 size and a constantjuxtaposition of documents 200 are given primacy over having time units308 of equal graphical size. This may result in some time units 308 notappearing at all on the axis 300, such as is illustrated in FIG. 5.

The visual display of document sets 220 will also vary based on theconfiguration of the axis 300 they are disposed on as linear ornon-linear, as is illustrated in FIG. 5. In a linear configuration 305,a document set 220 may take as much of the time unit's 308 space as isallowed by other documents 200 contained in the same time unit 308. Thesize of the documents 200 contained in the document set 220 willtherefore vary based on their number and the maximal size of thedocument set 220. In a non-linear configuration, document sets 220 canoccupy as much space as the number of documents 200 contained in it. Inother embodiments, as shall be seen below, groups containing a largenumber of documents 200 may also be sized manually by the user.

Axes 300 can also, illustratively, be embodied as a group of juxtaposedaxes 300 grouped together to form a matrix 370. In a matrix 370, oneaxis 300 (e.g. horizontal direction) of the matrix 370 can collatedocuments on a time scale 304 while the other axis 300 (displayedhorizontally or vertically/orthogonal to another axis of documents, . .. ) may use another collation function 302 such as the type of computerfile of each document 200. Another axis 300 can also use a time scale304 if desirable. Such an embodiment shall be illustrated and describedin further detail below. Other graphical layouts of documents 200 mightbecome obvious to a skilled reader in light of the present applicationand would be considered within the scope of this application.

The display of documents 200 on an axis 300 allows to contextuallymanage documents 200 as a flow, or an ongoing sequence of documents 200.Using an axis 300 of documents 200, or several axes 300, thus helps gainadditional meaning and intuitively display a group of documents 200thanks to the comprehensive layout, consistent display and distributionof the documents 200 thereon.

FIG. 6 represents a database 32 containing a plurality of documents 200,a selection of which is represented on an axis 300 after being processedby a query 210. The documents 200 in database 32 are illustrated ashaving an attribute 312 represented by one or more letters, or none, inwhich case the documents 200 are left blank. Letter attributes 312 areused in the present application for illustrative purposes only: whileletter attributes are theoretically possible, descriptive attributes 312based on a document 200's form and content, such as keywords, user name,document type, etc., are used in embodiments of the present invention.As is shown in FIG. 6, any document 200 can simultaneously be assignedmultiple attributes 312, by the user or by the system, as will beillustrated later. In fact, a preferred embodiment of the inventionassigns a plurality of attributes 312 to every document 200 in thedatabase 32, some user-specified and others system-specified. Otherdocuments 200 illustrated on FIG. 6 are blank, or without any associatedattribute 312, illustrating documents that could theoretically not beassigned any attribute 312 by the user or by the system, but that couldnonetheless be created and found in a query 210 such as one that wouldselect all documents 200 contained in the database 32.

The query 210 in FIG. 6 here illustratively selects documents 200 fromthe database 32 based on attribute 312 “A” for display on the axis 300.FIG. 6 further illustrates that the documents 200 selected from thedatabase 32 by the query 210 are placed on axis 300 in chronologicalorder, another element of the query 210. While it is possible, as wasexplained above, for documents 200 to be placed on an axis 300 in randomorder, or the order in which the search engine finds each document, apreferred embodiment of this invention collates documents 200 accordingto an order, such as, for instance, chronological, alphabetical orstatistical order, in a manner such that a user may more readily infermeaning from the selection of documents 200 represented on the axis 300.Documents 200 collated onto an axis 300 in chronological order may beplaced within the axis 300's time units 308 according to such attributes312 as, inter alia, time of creation or time of last modification.Similarly, documents 200 collated in alphabetical order may be placedwithin the axis 300's alphabetical collation units 307 according to,illustratively, attributes 312 such as the first letter of their name,of their creator's name or of their file type. Documents 200 collatedonto an axis 300 in statistical order may illustratively be placedwithin numerical collation units 307 according to such attributes 312 asthe number of times viewed, or the number of times referenced in otherdocuments 200. Again, the attributes 312 used to determine a document200's position within the axis 300's collation may be user-specified orattributed automatically by the system.

A query 210 leading to the creation of a first set of documents 200embodied as axis 300 as represented in FIG. 6 could be generalized asfollows:Conf(AXISa)=

CS _(a) ,C _(a) ,E _(a)

  Equation 1

Whereby CS_(a) is a filter applied on all documents 200 contained indatabase 32 which selects for attribute 312 “A”, C_(a) is an collationfunction based on, for example, the time of creation of each document200 and E_(a) is an equivalence class that gathers the ordered documentsinto collation units. In other words, once a document 200 is selected ashaving attribute 312 “A”, it is then disposed on the axis 300 at thecollation unit 307, in this case a time unit 308, matching a collationvalue 316, in this case creation date. The collation function C_(a) 302compares the collation values 316 of two documents 200 and returns oneof the symbols “<”, “=” or “>” based on whether the value of the firstcollation value 316 is less than, equal to or greater the value of thesecond parameter 316. One skilled in the art would understand that thisdefinition of the collation function C_(a) provides an efficient way toorders documents 200. The equivalent class E_(a) is a relation in whichmultiple documents 200 are considered equivalent if they should appearin the same collation unit 307.

Although the collation function C_(a) and the equivalent class E_(a) maybe based on the same attribute (in the case of FIG. 6, the creationdate), the equivalence class may consider inexact attribute valuematching. By example, the creation date may consider hour of the daywhile the collation units 307 groups documents of the same day. In thiscase, the equivalent class E_(a) may consider equivalent two documents320 of the same day but with different hours of the day. The collationfunction may still sort the documents 320 by the hour of the day withinthe same collation unit 307.

On FIG. 7, three different modes of referencing documents 200 indatabases 32 are schematized, which a person skilled in the art willreadily recognize as the most common database referencing modes. Theexample illustrated in FIG. 7 is one in which a given file, for instancea docket entry 320, may reference three different documents 200, in thiscase A, B and C. This mode of referencing, whereby the docket entry 320references a plurality of documents 200, is represented on FIG. 7 byarrows originating from the docket entry 320 icon and connecting to eachof the three documents 200. In a database 32, the docket entry 320 wouldreference documents 200 A, B and C by simultaneously bearing anattribute 312 for each one. Attributes 312 referencing documents 200amongst themselves may be user- or system-specified. Alternatively, adocket entry 320 may not reference documents 200 A, B and C but rather,documents 200 may individually reference the docket entry 320. Thiswould mean that each document, in addition to its own attributes 312,would also bear an attribute 312 for docket entry 320. In such areferencing mode, documents 200 A, B and C referencing the same docketentry 320 may or may not reference each other. Finally, some documents200 are considered “standalone” in that they are neither referenced bynor referencing other documents 200. For instance, a standalone document200 may bear nothing but its own attributes 312, which may include aplurality of content attributes 312 and form attributes 312 that permitcollation to an axis, but no other reference to or from other documents200.

On FIG. 8, a database 32 containing documents 200 referenced accordingto the different referencing modes outlined above is illustrated,together with an Axis 300 selecting all documents 200 bearing attribute312 “A” and collating them in chronological order in time units 308according to the collation value 316 each one presents. In thisembodiment, the axis 300 presents a non-linear configuration. In FIG. 8,documents 200 bearing attribute 312 “A” but no time reference, such asis a possible occurrence, are placed at one end of Axis A 300, outsidethe axis 300. It is encompassed by the present invention to provide amethod to position such documents as part of an axis 300 withoutrequiring a collation unit 307.

These various modes of referencing have implications for groupingdocuments 200 into document sets 220 and representing these documentsets 220 on an axis 300. For instance, if forming a set of documents 200related to docket entry 320, an accurate search would need to retrievedocuments 200 that are referenced by the docket entry 320 as well asthose that reference it. This is illustrated in FIG. 9, which depicts anaxis 300 formed from a plurality of documents 200 stored in a database32 that present an attribute 312 “A”. Two secondary sets 330 areillustrated on the axis 300 as well as documents 200 not presenting atime reference. In this figure, a search engine first retrievesdocuments 200 presenting attribute 312 “A”, including “A” documents 200not presenting a time reference, which are disposed to the right of theaxis 300, outside the time scale 304. The system then retrievesdocuments 200 according to a query 210 generating secondary sets 330.1and 330.2. The documents 200 contained in the database 32 are referencedtherein according to the different referencing modes outlined above.Documents referenced by document 200 ABCt10 are thus grouped together,as well as documents 200 referencing document 200 At10. As isillustrated in this figure, the referencing of documents 200 as linkedto a document 200 specified in the query 210 takes precedence over eachdocument 200's time reference in positioning the documents 200 on theaxis 300.

FIG. 9 also illustrates the two main forms of grouping contemplated inthe present disclosure. Secondary set 330.1 is formed exclusively ofdocuments 200 forming part of the document set 220 generated for displayonto the axis 300 by virtue of presenting the attribute 312 “A”. Assuch, it is a subset of axis 300 “A”. On the other hand, secondary set330.2 is formed of documents exhibiting attribute 312 “A”, as well as ofdocuments 200 not presenting attribute 312 “A”, and therefore comingfrom other locations than axis 300 “A”. Both types of secondary sets 330can be generated in the same query 210 as the one used to generate thefirst document set 220, namely the axis 300, or alternatively can begenerated in a subsequent query 210 once an axis 300 containing thefirst set of documents 200 has been generated.

In FIG. 9, documents Bt28 and Ct16 are included in secondary set 330.2as a result of being referenced by document ABCt10, which in thisembodiment is the grouping criterion of secondary set 330.2. In thisembodiment, secondary set 330.2 is formed by a mix of documents 200containing attribute 312 “A” and documents 200 exogenous to the axis 300“A”. However, a secondary set 330 exclusively composed of documents 200exogenous to the axis 300 is also contemplated within the scope of ourwork. Likewise, our work also encompasses embodiments where thedocuments 200 appearing in secondary sets 330, regardless of the type ofsecondary set 330, could simultaneously be displayed both in thesecondary set 330 and on the axis 330 at their intrinsic collation unit307. Finally, all the documents 200 appearing in FIG. 9 appear as beingare stored in the database 32, but it is also contemplated as part ofour work that documents 200 included in a secondary set 330 could comefrom a third party, as could illustratively be the case for documents200 received via email. Let us now view in turn each of the twopreferred embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates the process of sorting documents 200 from an axis300 into secondary sets 330 thereof, according to a grouping criterion.Such secondary sets 330 are thus subsets of the axis 300 by virtue ofbeing entirely composed of documents 200 that are part of the first setor axis 300. On axis 300.1, documents 200 of various types bearingattribute 312 “A” are collated onto the axis 300.1 in chronologicalorder. In this embodiment, both documents 200 that are referenced bydocket entry 320 and those that reference docket entry 320 are broughttogether as a document set 220 on axis 300.2. On axis 300.2, thedocuments 200 from the axis 300.1 that are linked to docket entry 320 Aare grouped together at the same time unit 308 as the docket entry 320,illustratively at time unit 308 T102, while the documents 200 notpertaining to docket entry 320 A are left at their original time unit308. As is shown in FIG. 10, this means that documents 200 originallylocated in time units 308 other than T102 are moved to time unit 308T102. In other words, the grouping criterion of the query 210 overridessingle documents 200's intrinsic collation position as specified by itscollation value 316.

In FIG. 10, the frame 334 containing the secondary set 330 featuressizing arrows 342 which allow the user to make the secondary set 330take up a smaller or larger proportion of the visible portion of theaxis 300.2. Sizing arrows 342 may be embodied as pairs such as in thepresent embodiment, or as a single sizing arrow 342 allowing the user toexpand the secondary set 330's display area 346 in only one direction.

In this embodiment, an informative icon 364 for docket entry 320 andassociated document set 220 are placed at the beginning of time unit 308“T102” once grouped and displayed on axis 300.2. This informative icon364 representing docket entry 320 is not a document 200 of the same typeas the others contained in the document set 220. Rather, the informativeicon 364 merely contains metadata, including but not limited to thevarious references to and from other documents 200, and other parameterssuch as collation values 316.

The remaining documents 200 from the same time unit 308 on axis 300.1,in this case an email, is positioned after the document set 220. Such anembodiment may be desirable to suit certain user preferences or, forinstance, when a large number of documents 200 within each time unit 308work to make time units 308 large, possibly larger than the display areaprovided by the axis 300.1 and thus requiring scrolling time. In suchoccurrences, positioning the secondary set 330 at the beginning of thetime unit 308 may help the user find it. Other embodiments couldalternatively position the docket entry 320 and related secondary set ofdocuments 330 at the same position as the docket entry 320's position inaxis 300.1, with other documents 200 within the same time unit 308 alsoin their original positions relative to the informative icon 364.

FIG. 11 depicts the second preferred embodiment of the present inventionin which secondary sets 330 include documents 200 coming not only fromthe first document set 220, or axis 300, but also from other sourcessuch as another axis 300 or the database 32. The secondary set 330,unlike in the FIG. 10, is not a subset of the first document set 220.FIG. 11 illustrates an example in which a secondary set 330 is formed togather together all documents 200 related to docket entry 320 “Z”,whether coming from axis 300.1 or from other sources, in this case anaxis 300.2 containing all art files (?). Alternatively, the art filespertaining to docket entry 320 “Z” could be located in a database 32without being organized into a document set 220 prior to selection forthe secondary set 330. In the current example however, documents 200coming from the axis 300.1 that are referenced by or referencing docketentry 320 “Z” are re-organized to become part of the secondary set 330whereas the art files coming from axis 300.3 become also present in axis300.2.

Configuring an axis 300 with secondary sets 330 therein, whichever thetype of secondary set 330, can be explained by the following expression:Conf(AXIS_(a))=

CS _(a) ,C _(a) ,E _(a) ,VDFs _(a) ,GRPs _(a)

  Equation 2whereby

-   -   CS_(a) again represents the filtering criterion applied to all        documents 200 in the database 32 to select the documents 200 to        be represented on the axis 300;    -   C_(a) represents the collation function;    -   E_(a) represents the equivalence class for gathering documents        200 into collation units 307;    -   VDFs_(a) represents the set of visually distinctive feature(s)        230 applied to documents 200 from the first set; and    -   GRPs_(a) represents the set of grouping rules (many grouping        sets may be used on the same axis 300).

Visually distinctive features 230 can be defined as graphical means tohighlight one or more documents 200 based on a specified attribute.Mathematically, visually distinctive features 230 can further be definedas follows:VDF _(ai) =

CS _(ai) ,A _(ai)

  Equation 3whereby

-   -   CS_(ai) represents the criterion used to determine which        documents 200 or document sets 220 are affected by the VDF; and    -   A_(ai) represents a description of the visual action to        undertake.        Such an action could be described, for instance, by a phrase,        such as “shift upward”, or “apply red frame”, or another        mathematical expression. A wide variety of visually distinctive        features 230 is contemplated by our work, including but not        limited to color, frame, position, shading, etc. In accordance        with the present formula, visually distinctive features 230 may        optionally be applied to documents 200 within a first document        set 220 (VDF₁), to documents 200 within a secondary set 330,        and/or to an entire secondary set 330. We shall later provide a        detailed explanation of visually distinctive features 230 and        the various embodiments thereof.

A secondary set 330 (or group) rule can further be defined as follows:GRP _(ai) =

CS _(ai) ,CG _(ai) ,CSG _(ai) ,C _(ai) ,CV _(aij) ,VDFs _(ai) ,GRPs_(ai)

  Equation 4whereby

-   -   CS_(ai) is a criterion selection function that determines which        documents 200 or attribute 312 will serve as a basis for the        creation of secondary sets 330;    -   CG_(ai) is a criterion of gathering function that receive the        criterion of the selection and determines which documents 200        should of the axis 300 should be moved into the secondary set        330;    -   CSG_(ai) is a supplementary criterion function that receives the        criterion of the selection of the group and returns a criterion        selection for adding more documents 200 in the secondary set 330        that are not by provided by the filtering criterion of the axis        300.    -   C_(ai) represents the collation function 302 for the documents        within the secondary set 330, which is independent from that of        the axis 300;    -   CV_(ai) is a collation value function that determines the        position of the secondary set 330 on the axis 300 by using the        criterion of selection and returning a collation value 316        comprised within the collation function 302 of the axis 300;    -   VDFs_(ai) is the set of visually distinctive features 230 that        are selected to apply within the secondary set 330;    -   GRPs_(ai) is the mathematical set of grouping rules, for further        levels of subsidiary document sets 220, in which case the        mathematical set would contain another iteration of the grouping        function for the tertiary set 360. This mathematical set could        also be empty if not further document set 220 is contained        within the secondary set 330.        According to the aforementioned function and the criterion        selection function CS_(ai) a secondary set 330 may be formed        around a specific document 200, information icon, such as is        illustrated in the following figures, but may also be formed        around any attribute 312 shared by the documents 200 including        but not limited to file name and first letter thereof, file        type, etc. Furthermore, secondary sets 330 may have a collation        function 302 distinct from that of the axis 300. In other words,        documents 200 contained in a secondary set 330 may be arranged        in an order other than that used for the axis 300. For instance,        whereas an axis 300 may present a chronological order, a        secondary set 330 may organize the documents 200 therein in        alphabetical order or by file type.

To provide an example of how Equation 4 is used on axis 300.2 in FIG.11, the grouping may be defined where CS_(A1) may be all docket entries320, CG_(A1) may be all a function returning true on all documents thatare referenced by the docket entry of the group and a supplementarycriterion function CSG_(A1) is provided to insert art files related tothe docket entry 320. The collation value may be the creation date andhour of the docket entry.

The present invention also allows the positioning a secondary set 330 onan axis 300 at a location independent from that of the individualdocuments 200 contained therein through the use of a collation valueCV_(ai) of a secondary set 330 in a query 210. While a secondary set 330formed, illustratively, around a docket entry 320, may be placed at thedate of the docket entry 320, whether before the docket entry 320,instead of it or after it, it may also be positioned elsewhere to suit avariety of purposes. CV_(aij) may therefore correspond to a givencollation unit 307, such as a time unit 308 in the case of achronological collation function 302, to a document 200 that referencesor is referenced by other documents 200 in the secondary set 330, or toa specific location on the display area, inside or outside the axis 300.For example, a user may wish to view all of his work documents 200 on anaxis, but always have, illustratively, their personal photograph fileson the left of their screen.

Further to the function described above, FIG. 12 outlines, from atheoretical perspective, the different degrees levels of grouping onaxes 300. At grouping degree 0, documents 200 documents 200 bearingattribute 312 “A” disposed on the axis 300.1. At this level, documents220 could be sorted according to an attribute 312, but no collationfunction 302 is used. Grouping degree 0 therefore presents no groupingof any kind. At the first grouping degree, documents 200 bearingattribute 312 “A” are disposed in a specified order in collation units307. Documents 200 having attribute 312 “A” but no collation value 316are placed to the right of the axis 300.2 outside of the collation.While no secondary set 330 is illustrated here, it is important to notethat collation units 307 may themselves constitute a first level ofgrouping. Likewise, juxtaposing documents 200 presenting no collationvalue 316 to the right of axis 300.2 also represents a level ofgrouping. At the second grouping degree, one secondary set 330 is placedon axis 300.3 and identified by a frame 334. This type of grouping isextensively described in the present specification. At the thirdgrouping degree, three secondary sets 330 are shown within axis 300.4.Of these secondary sets 330, secondary set 300.2 is composed of twosets, one of which, a tertiary set 360 is placed within the secondaryset 330.2. This tertiary set 360, like secondary set, may be a subset ofsecondary set 330.2, composed of documents 200 exclusively comprisedwithin secondary set 330.2, or may be a document set 220 composed ofdocuments 200 exogenous to the secondary set 330.2 or the axis 330.4 asa whole. This latter embodiment is displayed here, with a tertiary set360 formed of a plurality of documents 200 presenting the attribute 312“B” being integrated in an axis 300.4 exclusively formed of documents200 presenting the attribute 312 “A”. While axis 300.4 illustrateslevels of secondary sets 330 going only as far as a tertiary set 360,further levels of subsidiary sets, and therefore grouping degrees, arecontemplated by the invention.

In axis 300.4 of FIG. 12, secondary set 330.1 is shown as potentiallyembodied horizontally or vertically. This embodiment could be offered tothe user as a choice, selectable by a variety of means such as clicking,double-clicking, dragging, etc. Upon prompting by a user, the movementof the secondary set 330 from horizontal to vertical or from vertical tohorizontal could be embodied in a host of ways. One possible way couldbe the sliding downward or upward of the secondary set 330 around arotation axis. Another possible way could be a series of movementscomprising, illustratively, the upward or downward collapsing of thesecondary set 330 to the beginning of the secondary set 330 and anothermovement in whereby the secondary set 330 would again be expanded in thedirection specified by the user.

One facet of grouping encompasses the notion of visually distinguishingdocuments 200 and document sets 220. On a basic level, single documents200 may be represented as having visually distinctive features 230applied thereon, such as in axis 300.4 of FIG. 12 where shading andvertical shifting (upwardly and downwardly) are used to highlightcertain documents 200 and provide additional meaning to the display.While documents are not grouped in spatial terms, this constitutes akind of grouping. Rather than being based on location or juxtaposition,grouping can be visual. In turn, entire document sets 220 may behighlighted in different ways using visually distinctive features 230such as is illustrated by secondary set 330.3 on axis 300.4, which isshifted upward in relation to the boundaries of the axis 300.4.

Still in FIG. 12, axis 300.5 represents a third grouping degree axiswhere, in addition to groups formed from documents 200 and visuallydistinctive features 230, other groups are formed by applying visuallydistinctive features 230 to collation units 307. Indeed, in axis 300.5,collation units 307 are indeed treated as secondary sets 330, and may bevertically shifted upward and downward. This could be useful, forinstance, if a user wanted to highlight and/or block weekends andholidays on a calendar in order to distinguish them from work days.

FIG. 13 illustrates different embodiments for graphically renderingdocument sets 220 placed within axes 300. On axis 300.1, the documents200 organized as a secondary set 330 around docket entry 320 arehighlighted by a frame 334 and placed to the right of an informativeicon 364 representing docket entry 320. In this embodiment, theinformative icon 364 for docket entry 320 is located within thesecondary set of documents 330's frame 334. Whereas secondary sets 330are scrollable independently of the main axis 300, the docket entry 320icon could be static at the beginning of the secondary set 330 and assuch always be visible, or alternatively be embodied as a scrollableelement of the secondary set 330 similar to the documents 200 comprisedtherein.

Axis 300.2 in FIG. 13 illustrates a secondary set 330 marked by a frame334 but without any docket entry 320. This embodiment may be desirablefor purposes such as leaving greater space for the documents 200 withinthe secondary set 330 in the set's display area 346.

As is depicted in FIG. 13, grouping documents 200 into a document set220 in accordance with a shared attribute 312 or reference may mean thatcertain time units 308 that had documents 200 therein on the initialaxis 300 no longer do once grouping has taken place. Therefore some timeunits 308 may be free of any documents 200. As is shown in FIG. 13, thiscan be embodied graphically in a variety of ways. Axis 300.1 illustratesa non-linear configuration 306 where time unit 308 “T104” is designatedby a blank space between time unit markers 338 “T104” and “T105”. Emptytime units 308 of varying sizes are contemplated to be within the scopeof the present invention to form part of a linear configuration 305 or anon-linear configuration 306. Alternatively, as in illustrated by axes300.2, 300.3 and 300.4, an empty time unit 308 can be completelycollapsed, causing time units markers 338 to go from “T103” directly to“T105”.

On axis 300.3, the secondary set 330 generated from the axis 300.3 iscollapsed into a small area represented by the informative icon 364. Inthis embodiment, the documents 200 comprised in the document set 220 arenot visible. To expand the display area 346 and the secondary set 330and make the documents 200 contained therein visible, the user may clickon the minimized frame 348 and collapsing arrow 350 located to the rightof the informative icon. Such an expanded display area 346 isillustrated in axis 300.4. In this embodiment, a sizing arrow 342 islocated to the right of the secondary set display area 346 above axis300.5. A collapsing arrow 350 is further located to the right of thesecondary set 330 display area 346, outside the secondary set 330'sframe 334 and inside the axis 300 area. Collapsing arrows 350 locatedoutside the axis 300 area, or to the left of the secondary set 330, oryet pointing vertically rather than horizontally as in the presentembodiment are all encompassed by the present invention.

Two scrolling arrows 354 are also positioned inside the secondary set330 frame 334, indicating bi-directional scrolling functions within thesecondary set of documents 330. In this embodiment, different colors foreach scrolling arrow 354 indicate the presence or absence of documents200 in the direction of the scrolling arrow 354. Illustratively, a whitescrolling arrow 354 could indicate that the user may scroll to the rightto view other documents 200 while a black scrolling arrow 354 pointingleftward may indicate that there are no more documents 200 in thedirection of the scrolling arrow. The absence of documents 200 in onedirection could alternatively be embodied, for instance, by the absenceof a scrolling arrow 354 in the same direction without departing fromthe present invention. Similarly, a scrolling arrow 354 changing colorsas the number of documents 200 available in a given direction decreasesis also contemplated within the scope of the instant invention.

In FIG. 14, a secondary set 330 is generated around docket entry 320 “Z”and positioned at the docket entry 320's date of entry, namely T102. Thedocuments 200 contained in this secondary set 330 are taken both from afirst axis, axis 300.1, and from an art file axis 300.3, whichalternatively, could be contained in the database 32 without beingrepresented on an axis. This secondary set 330 is organized byalphabetical order, unlike the rest of the

axis, of which the scale is chronological. In addition, anothersecondary set 330 is created by minimizing axis 300.4, which isexclusively composed of emails, and integrating it to axis 300.2.However, this second secondary set 330 is not positioned within thecollation of axis 300.2, but rather outside of it, at the extreme leftof the axis 300.4. This means that upon scrolling the axis 300.2, thesecondary set 330 containing emails will remain static. Graphicallyspeaking, this second secondary set 330 is embodied so as to maintain asmall display area 346. Scrolling arrows 354 are nonetheless provided toallow users to view email documents 200 as they would be positioned onthe axis 300.4 if viewed in full.

FIG. 15 illustrates a plurality of visually distinctive features 230 asapplied to documents inside and outside sets. As was explained above,visually distinctive features 230 encompass the host of graphical meansused to highlight documents 200 or sets thereof 220, which may includebut may not be limited to shape, color, shading, frames, etc. isdepicted in FIG. 15, visually distinctive features 230 may be applied todocuments 200 comprised in the first document set 220. In this figure,one document 200 presents shading and one other document is positionedas resting against the axis 300's lower boundary. This may be used, forinstance, to distinguish incoming from outgoing documents 200. This maybe deemed useful for certain documents 200 such as email, as is depictedin the secondary set 330 positioned to the left of the axis 300. Framesmay also be used to single out certain documents 200, such as isillustrated here. Furthermore, a plurality of visually distinctivefeatures 230 may be applied to the same document 200, as is depictedhere with a document that is at once downwardly positioned in relationto the center of the axis 300 and framed. Secondary sets 330 may in turnbe represented graphically with different visually distinctive features230, as is illustrated here by having a first secondary set 330 framedwith a thicker line than the other secondary set 330. While line type isused here to distinguish each secondary set 330, a diversity of visuallydistinctive features 230 could be used without departing from thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates an alternate embodiment in which multiple secondarysets 330 are displayed on the same axis 300, with a variety of visuallydistinctive features 230. Secondary set 330.1, located to the left ofthe axis 300, is composed of documents 200 containing the attribute 312“Z”, and is located outside the axis 300's collation. Differentdocuments 200 featuring attribute 312 “A” are then represented on axis300 as not forming any secondary set 330. These documents 200nevertheless present a plurality of visually distinctive features 230,such as upwardly or downwardly positioning in relation to the axis 300'sboundaries, overlapping, or shading. Other visually distinctive features230 could be applied without departing from the present invention.

Three more secondary sets 330 are also represented on the axis 300.Secondary set 330.2, rather the collection of documents 200 disposedwithin a frame 334, is embodied as a document pile 374 disposed so as tosubstantially overlap with one another. Such an embodiment could beuseful in making the secondary set more compact and leaving more spacefor other documents 200 and document sets 220 in the display.

Secondary set 330.3 consists of a collection of documents 200 visuallydistinguished by a frame 334. In this embodiment, the secondary set330.3 is downwardly positioned in relation to the axis 300. Conversely,secondary set 330.4 is upwardly positioned in relation to the axis 300'sboundaries. Within each of these secondary sets 330, some documents 200are also downwardly or upwardly positioned in relation to the frame 334.

In FIG. 17, three axes 300 are displayed, each containing a plurality ofsecondary sets 330. Some sets are embodied as document piles 374 whileothers are disposed within frames 334. Like secondary sets 330, documentpiles 374 may have visual distinctive features applied on them. The axes300 of FIG. 17 are shown as self-standing, but could also be grouped toshare the same collation function 302, thus forming a matrix 370.

FIG. 18 illustrates an embodiment of a matrix 370 in which grouped axes300 share the same timeline 304. Secondary sets 330 are representedtherein, presenting distinct collation functions 302. In this figure, aplurality of secondary sets 330 is displayed. Among these secondary sets330, some are contained within one axis 300, whereas others are expandedover both axes 300. This could be useful in order to further sub-dividedocuments 200 comprised in the secondary set 330 into two distinctparts. For instance, a user may want to group all documents 200pertaining to docket entry 320 “Z” and keep all art files on the topaxis 300 while all other documents 200 would be displayed on the bottomaxis 300. While this embodiment shows secondary sets 330 expanded overtwo axes 300. A secondary set 330 expanded over a plurality of axes maybe useful to group the results of a plurality of queries that would havea common collation value. This is shown in FIG. 18 where the twosecondary set 330 expanded on the two axes 300 is grouping documents 200having the “A” attribute with those having the “B” attribute. Secondarysets 330 expanded over more than two axes are contemplated as part ofthis invention.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of creating a hierarchyof document sets 220 and integrating the different document sets 220into the same axis 300 display. The method first includes providing aplurality of documents, which may be contained in a database 32.Secondly, the method includes filtering the plurality of documentsaccording to a filtering criterion. Thirdly, the method includesgenerating a first document set 220 from the first filtering criterion.Fourth, the method includes graphically displaying the document set 220on an axis 300. Fifth, the method includes generating a secondary set330 of documents 200, either exclusively from the first document set 220of from the plurality of documents, by using a second filteringcriterion. The fifth step also includes defining a collation functionfor the secondary set. As a sixth step, the method includes defining aposition for the secondary set 330 within the first document set 220 asordered on an axis 300 according to a collation function 302. Theseventh step of the method combines the first document set 220 and thesecondary set 300. Lastly, the eighth step of the method displays thecombined document sets 220 on the same axis 300 in accordance with theposition specified previously.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart describing the method for including or notincluding events in a secondary set of documents and graphicallydisplaying the same.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart describing the method for integrating secondarydocument sets to an axis when said document set is exogenous to thequery.

The description and the drawings that are presented above are meant tobe illustrative of the present invention. They are not meant to belimiting of the scope of the present invention. Modifications to theembodiments described may be made without departing from the presentinvention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims:

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingstored thereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of a computer system, cause the computer system to performoperations for displaying an array of time-stamped user-selectableelements on a display, the operations comprising: selecting a first setof user-selectable elements on a basis of a first filtering criterion;using a first chronological order for ordering the selected first set ofuser-selectable elements; selecting a second set of user-selectableelements on a basis of an association with a reference computer-readableelement from the first set of user-selectable elements; selecting anordering of the second set of user-selectable elements; identifying aposition along the ordering of the first set of user-selectable elementsfor locating and interleaving the second set of user-selectable elementswithin the first set of user-selectable elements along the axis ofuser-selectable elements in conjunction with the referenceuser-selectable element from the first chronologically ordered set ofuser-selectable elements; and displaying a combined set ofuser-selectable elements including the first set of user-selectableelements and the interleaved second set of user-selectable elements inan axis of user-selectable elements displaying the user-selectableelements in a single line of user-selectable elements disposed in asubstantially rectilinear formation corresponding with the firstchronological order, the first set of user-selectable elements beingordered on a basis of the first chronological order, wherein the secondset of user-selectable elements is displayed on a basis of theidentified position along the first ordered set of user-selectableelements in graphical juxtaposition with the reference user-selectableelement, the second set of time-stamped user-selectable elements beinganachronically ordered in respect with the first chronological order ofthe first set of user-selectable elements.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least some of theuser-selectable elements are computer-readable files including aplurality of file formats.
 3. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein at least some of the user-selectable elementsare user-selectable icons.
 4. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the second set of user-selectable elements isadapted to be ordered on a basis of a collation function.
 5. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein thecollation function is a second chronological order.
 6. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at leastsome of the user-selectable elements are documents.
 7. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein theidentified position is chronologically after the referenceuser-selectable element.
 8. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 1, wherein the second set of user-selectable elements isaxially collapsible.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein a visual distinctive feature is adapted to be appliedto the second set of user-selectable elements to further distinguish thesecond set of user-selectable elements from the first set ofuser-selectable elements.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the second set of user-selectable elements isadapted to be displayed at an angle in respect with the axis ofuser-selectable elements.
 11. A computerized system configured to readcomputer-executable instructions adapted to enable a program enabling aninterface adapted to order and display computer-readable files, thecomputerized system comprising: a processing unit configured to processthe computer executable instructions; and a display configured todisplay the interface; the program, when executed, being operative to:select a first set of user-selectable elements on a basis of a firstfiltering criterion; using a first chronological order for ordering theselected first set of user-selectable elements; select a second set ofuser-selectable elements on a basis of an association with a referencecomputer-readable element from the first set of user-selectableelements; select and ordering of the second set of user-selectableelements; identify a position along the ordering of the first setuser-selectable elements for locating and interleaving the second set ofuser-selectable elements within the first set of user-selectableelements along the axis of user-selectable elements in conjunction withthe reference user-selectable element from the first chronologicallyordered set of user-selectable elements; and display a combined set ofuser-selectable elements including of the first set of user-selectableelements and the interleaved second set of user-selectable elements inan axis of user-selectable elements displaying the user-selectableelements in a single line of user-selectable elements disposed in asubstantially rectilinear formation corresponding with the firstchronological order, the first set of user-selectable elements beingordered on a basis of the first chronological order, wherein the secondset of user-selectable elements is displayed on a basis of theidentified position along the first ordered set of user-selectableelements in graphical juxtaposition with the reference user-selectableelement, the second set of time-stamped user-selectable elements beinganachronically ordered in respect with the first chronological order ofthe first set of user-selectable elements.
 12. The computerized systemof claim 11, wherein at least some of the user-selectable elements areuser-selectable icons.
 13. The computerized system of claim 11, whereinthe second set of computer-readable files is adapted to be ordered on abasis of a second collation function.
 14. The computerized system ofclaim 11, wherein at least some of the user-selectable elements aredocuments.
 15. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein theidentified position is chronologically after the referenceuser-selectable element.
 16. The computerized system of claim 11,wherein the second set of user-selectable elements is axiallycollapsible.
 17. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein a visualdistinctive feature is adapted to be applied to user-selectable elementsto further distinguish user-selectable elements from the first set ofuser-selectable elements.
 18. The computerized system of claim 11,wherein the second set of user-selectable elements is adapted to bedisplayed at an angle in respect with the axis of user-selectableelements.
 19. A method of combining a plurality of sets of documents ona display, the method comprising: selecting a first set ofuser-selectable elements on a basis of a first filtering criterion;selecting a second set of user-selectable elements on a basis of anassociation with a reference computer-readable element from the firstset of user-selectable elements; selecting an ordering of the second setof user-selectable elements; identifying a position along thechronological order of the first set of user-selectable elements forlocating and interleaving the second set of user-selectable elementswithin the first set of user-selectable elements on an axis ofuser-selectable elements in conjunction with the referenceuser-selectable element from the first chronologically ordered set ofuser-selectable elements; displaying and ordering the first set ofuser-selectable elements in accordance with an order defined on a basisof a first collation function; and displaying a combined set ofuser-selectable elements including of the first set of user-selectableelements and the interleaved second set of user-selectable elements onthe axis of user-selectable elements displaying the user-selectableelements in a single line of user-selectable elements disposed in asubstantially rectilinear formation corresponding with the firstchronological order, the first set of user-selectable elements beingordered on a basis of the first chronological order wherein the secondset of user-selectable elements is displayed on a basis of theidentified position along the first ordered set of user-selectableelements in graphical juxtaposition with the reference user-selectableelement, the user-selectable elements of the second set of time-stampeduser-selectable elements being anachronically ordered in respect withthe first chronological order of the first set of user-selectableelements.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein at least some ofuser-selectable elements are user-selectable icons.